Chapter Four: The Root of All Evil

II. Right Teaching and Right Learning

5 We have spoken of many
different human symptoms, and at this level there is almost endless
variation. There is, however, only one cause of all of them. The authority problem is "the root of all evil." Money
is but one of its many reflections and is a reasonably representative
example of the kind of thinking which stems from it. The idea of
buying and selling implies precisely the kind of exchange that the
Soul cannot understand at all because its supply is always abundant
and all its demands are fully met.

6 Every symptom which the ego
has made involves a contradiction in terms. This is because the mind
is split between the ego and the Soul, so that whatever the
ego makes is incomplete and contradictory. This untenable position is
the result of the authority problem which, because it accepts the one
inconceivable thought as its premise, can only produce ideas which
are inconceivable. The term "profess" is used quite
frequently in the Bible. To profess is to identify with an idea and
offer the idea to others to be their own. The idea does not lessen;
it becomes stronger.

7 A good teacher clarifies
his own ideas and strengthens them by teaching them. Teacher and
pupil are alike in the learning process. They are in the same order
of learning, and unless they share their lessons, they will
lack conviction. A good teacher must believe in the ideas which he
professes, but he must meet another condition; he must also believe
in the students to whom he offers his ideas. Many stand guard over
their ideas because they want to protect their thought systems as
they are, and learning means change. Change is always fearful to the
separated ones because they cannot conceive of it as a change towards
healing the separation. They always perceive it as a
change towards further separation because the separation was their
first experience of change.

8 You believe that if you
allow no change to enter into your ego, your Soul will find peace.
This profound confusion is possible only if one maintains that the
same thought system can stand on two foundations. Nothing can
reach the Soul from the ego, and nothing from the Soul can
strengthen the ego or reduce the conflict within it. The ego
is a contradiction. Man's self and God's Self
are in opposition. They are opposed in creation, in will, and
in outcome. They are fundamentally irreconcilable because the Soul
cannot perceive and the ego cannot know. They are therefore not in
communication and can never be in communication.
Nevertheless, the ego can learn because its maker can be misguided
but cannot make the totally lifeless out of the life-given.
The Soul need not be taught, but the ego must.

9 The ultimate reason why
learning is perceived as frightening is because learning does
lead to the relinquishment (not destruction) of the ego to the
light of the Soul. This is the change the ego must fear
because it does not share my charity. My lesson was like yours, and
because I learned it, I can teach it. I never attack your egos, but I
do try to teach you how their thought system[s] arose. When I remind you of your true creation, your egos cannot but
respond with fear.

10 Teaching and learning are
your greatest strengths now because you must change your mind
and help others change theirs. It is pointless to refuse to tolerate
change because you believe you can demonstrate that by doing so the
separation has not occurred. The dreamer who doubts the reality of
his dream while he is still dreaming is not really healing the
level-split. You have dreamed of a separated ego, and you
have believed in a world which rests upon it. This is very
real to you. You cannot undo this by doing nothing and not
changing.

11 If you are willing to
renounce the role of guardian[s] of your thought system[s] and open [them] to
me, I will correct [them] very gently and lead you home. Every good
teacher hopes to give his students so much of his own thinking that
they will one day no longer need him. This is the one real goal of
the parent, teacher, and therapist. This goal will not be achieved by
those who believe that they will lose their child or pupil or
patient if they succeed. It is impossible to convince the ego
of this because it goes against all of its own laws. But remember
that laws are set up to protect the continuity of the system in which
the law-maker believes.

12 It is natural enough for
the ego to try to protect itself once you have made it, but it is
not natural for you to want to obey its laws unless
you believe in them. The ego cannot make this choice because
of the nature of its origin. You can because of the nature of
yours. Egos can clash in any situation, but Souls cannot clash
at all. If you perceive a teacher as merely a "larger ego,"
you will be afraid because to enlarge an ego is
to increase separation anxiety. I will teach with you and live with
you if you will think with me, but my goal will always be to absolve
you finally from the need for a teacher.

13 This is the
opposite of the ego-oriented teacher's goal. He is
concerned with the effect of his ego on other egos and
therefore interprets their interaction as a means of ego
preservation. I would not be able to devote myself to teaching if I
believed this, and you will not be a devoted teacher as long
as you maintain it. I am constantly being perceived as a
teacher either to be exalted or rejected, but I do not accept either
perception for myself.

14 Your worth is not
established by your teaching or your learning. Your worth was
established by God. As long as you dispute this, everything
you do will be fearful, particularly any situation which lends itself
to the "superiority-inferiority" fallacy. Teachers must be
patient and repeat their lessons until they are learned. I am willing
to do this because I have no right to set your learning limits for
you. Once againnothing you do or think or wish or make
is necessary to establish your worth. This point is not debatable
except in delusions. Your ego is never at stake because God
did not create it. Your Soul is never at stake because He
did. Any confusion on this point is a delusion and no
form of devotion is possible as long as this delusion lasts.

15 The ego tries to exploit
all situations into forms of praise for itself in order to
overcome its doubts. It will be doubtful forever, or rather as long
as you believe in it. You who made it cannot trust it because
you know it is not real. The only sane solution is not
to try to change reality, which is indeed a fearful attempt, but to
see it as it is.You are part of reality, which stands
unchanged beyond the reach of your ego but within easy reach of your
Soul. When you are afraid, be still and know that God is real
and you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Do not
let your ego dispute this because the ego cannot know what is as far
beyond its reach as you are.

16 God is not the
author of fear. You are. You have chosen, therefore, to create
unlike Him, and you have made fear for yourselves. You are not at
peace because you are not fulfilling your function. God gave you a
very lofty responsibility which you are not meeting. You know
this, and you are afraid. In fact, your egos have chosen to be afraid
instead of meeting it. When you awaken you will not be able to
understand this because it is literally incredible. Do not believe
the incredible now. Any attempt to increase its believability is
merely to postpone the inevitable.

17 The word
"inevitable" is fearful to the ego but joyous to the Soul.
God is inevitable, and you cannot avoid Him any more than He can avoid you. The ego is afraid of the Soul's joy
because, once you have experienced it, you will withdraw all
protection from the ego and become totally without the investment in
fear. Your investment is great now because fear is a witness to the
separation, and your ego rejoices when you witness to it. Leave it
behind! Do not listen to it, and do not preserve it. Listen only to
God, Who is as incapable of deception as are the Souls He
created.

18 Release yourselves and
release others. Do not present a false and unworthy picture of
yourself to others, and do not accept such a picture of them
yourselves. The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you
because it cannot build otherwise. Do not try to make this
impoverished house stand. Its weakness is your
strength. Only God could make a home that is worthy of His creations,
who have chosen to leave it empty by their own dispossession. Yet His
home will stand forever and is ready for you when you choose to enter
it. Of this you can be wholly certain. God is as incapable of
creating the perishable as the ego is of making the eternal.

19 Of your egos you can do
nothing to save yourselves or others, but of your Souls you can do
everything for the salvation of both. Humility is a lesson for the
ego, not for the Soul. The Soul is beyond humility because it
recognizes its radiance and gladly sheds its light everywhere. The
meek shall inherit the earth because their egos are humble, and this
gives them better perception. The Kingdom of Heaven is the
right of the Soul, whose beauty and dignity are far beyond
doubt, beyond perception, and stand forever as the mark of the love
of God for His creations, who are wholly worthy of Him and
only of Him. Nothing else is sufficiently worthy to be a gift
for a creation of God Himself.

20 I will substitute for your
ego if you wish but never for your Soul. A father can safely
leave a child with an elder brother who has shown himself
responsible, but this involves no confusion about the child's
origin. The brother can protect the child's body and his ego,
which are very closely related, but he does not confuse
himself with the father because he does this, although the
child may. I can be entrusted with your body and your ego simply
because this enables you not to be concerned with them and
lets me teach you their unimportance. I could not understand
their importance to you if I had not once been tempted to
believe in them myself.

21 Let us undertake to learn
this lesson together, so we can be free of them together. I need
devoted teachers who share my aim of healing the mind. The Soul is
far beyond the need of your protection or mine. Remember
this:

22 In this world you need not
have tribulationbecause I have overcome the
world.

23 That is why you should be
of good cheer.

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